The present invention relates generally to the field of article packaging, and more particularly to a method and system for sequentially packing articles of different sizes in plastic film, wherein the film substantially exactly fits the article while reducing the amount of wasted film material.
Social expression cards and greeting cards are manufactured and sold in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles, to provide customers a wide selection of cards. Currently, cards are manufactured in large production runs, wherein literally thousands of identical cards are manufactured. A production run generally includes the steps of printing, scoring, cutting, folding, and packaging the cards. Each of those steps currently requires a substantial amount of make ready.
There is a desire to be able to produce cards on demand in smaller runs. For example, it may be desired to produce only from one to a few dozen cards of a particular design. The make ready requirements for current manufacturing techniques make it uneconomical to produce cards in such limited quantities.
The make ready requirements are particularly severe with respect to packaging. Currently, there do not exist any on demand plastic wrap packaging systems. Rather, packaging equipment must be set up and configured to make a package of a particular size and shape. If one were to attempt to use currently existing packaging equipment to package articles of different sizes in an on demand production system, one would have to use a least common denominator approach. In other words, one would have to package all the articles in a package large enough to fit the largest article, which would lead to substantial waste of packaging material. The problem could be ameliorated somewhat by using shrink wrap material, but such material is substantially more expensive than common heat sealable polyethylene material.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for sequentially packing articles of different sizes in plastic film, wherein the film substantially exactly fits the article while reducing the amount of wasted film material.
The present invention provides a method of and a system for packaging articles, such as stacks of greeting cards or the like, having ends and sides. The system of the present invention includes an article handler, a plurality of film handlers, and a side sealer.
Each of the film handlers includes a film roll holder for holding a film roll. Each film has a length and a width, wherein the film is folded along its length to have an open side and a closed side. The film rolls each have a different width between the respective open and closed ends of the films they carry. Each film handler further includes a film holding arrangement positioned to receive film from the film roll holder. The film holding arrangement is adapted to hold open the film along its open side. Finally, each film handler includes a cross cutter positioned to receive film from the film holding arrangement The cross cutter includes an end cutting and sealing blade positioned transverse to the length of the film and adapted to cut and seal an end of the film adjacent an end of an article.
The article handler is positioned adjacent the film handlers. The article handler is adapted to deliver an article to a film handler selected to have a film width greater than the width of the article and to insert the article into the film holding arrangement of the selected film handler through the open side of said film and move the article and film past the cross cutter, whereupon the end cutting and sealing blade is actuated to cut and seal said film adjacent an end of the article.
The side sealer is positioned adjacent the article handler. The side sealer includes a side cutting and sealing blade positioned cut and seal said open side of said film adjacent a side of said article. The side sealer includes a gripper positioned to receive an article from the article handler with the film being sealed on either end of the article. The gripper is arranged to position the side of the article adjacent the open side of the film adjacent the side cutting and sealing blade. The side cutting and sealing blade is actuated to cut and seal film closely adjacent the side of the article.